It’s Good to Be John

“It’s funny how you change, how different things become important [as you age],” says Command. “There’s health. Once that’s gone, nothing matters. Then friendship. That’s about it. I don’t have much family. My family is the people I’ve met in the theater.” That includes his partner, Jon Evans, a former Guthrie actor–turned–businessman. They met in 1982, playing Barnaby and Cornelius in Hello, Dolly! at Chanhassen, but then lost track of each other. They didn’t start dating until 1999.

“At my stage of life, people get forgotten about,” he says, which makes him almost compulsive about nurturing and expanding his vast web of intimate friendships. “I spent this past weekend with Lucie and her husband, Larry Luckinbill, up at their house in Katonah, New York,” he says. “She lives within ten minutes of Linda Eder. I want to introduce the two of them, but I haven’t made that happen yet. I want everyone to know everyone!”

In addition to working at BCT, Command has a part-time day job as a reservation agent for Northwest Airlines. But he insists he doesn’t need the money. “I’m good with money. The job is primarily to get health insurance for me. All my life, I have bought and sold real estate, leveraging it into our current home,” he says, pointing out that he also owns a house near Lake Calhoun and a condo in Hollywood overlooking Universal Studios.

He works at BCT because he wants to and is adamant it’s not a step down for him. “People ask if I don’t wish I was working at Chanhassen, and I say no. I don’t want to work that much,” he says. “Besides, I love the kids. They make me feel young, like thirty-four or thirty-five. And working with Anita Ruth is a treasure.”

“BCT is the greatest thing that has happened to both of us,” says Ruth, who frequently collaborates on the musical elements of the theater’s shows. “We first met in 1964, when we were both part of the club act, The First Nighters. Even then, he was already ‘John Command’. Since coming here, John has single-handedly resurrected the theater. He took hold of it and said we’re going to make it better. And he has made it better and better out of sheer enthusiasm.”

Though BCT had been moribund for a few years in the 1990s, Command didn’t join the staff with plans to overhaul the theater. “The first year, we just did small shows,” he says. “The next year, we did bigger ones. It just started to roll downhill. That first season, we did two shows and made around $3,000 in total ticket sales. This season, we’re doing five shows and have 3,700 season-ticket subscribers.” When asked about the future, Command remains equivocal. “We talk about expanding, maybe starting to do some small Equity contracts, but I don’t know. Right now, there is no answer.”

Command recently accepted his first two-year contract with BCT, “but, there’s always talk of hiring someone new,” he says, sanguine about the possibility. “When that happens, I’ll just be here,” he says, gesturing to his home. 

For information on BCT’s December 29–January 6 production of Love Letters, call 952-563-8575.

William Randall Beard is opera columnist for Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.